Divine Misfortune

Teri and Phil had never needed their own personal god. But when Phil is passed up for a promotion - again - it's time to take matters into their own hands. And look online. Choosing a god isn't as simple as you would think. There are too many choices; and they often have very hefty prices for their eternal devotion: blood, money, sacrifices, and vows of chastity. But then they find Luka, raccoon god of prosperity. All he wants is a small cut of their good fortune. Oh - and to crash on their couch for a few days.

I would recommend this book to friends who like a little absurdity, or friends who like trashy science fiction movies.

What did you like best about this story?

This story paced itself just right. It kicked in the absurd early on, and then built on it slowly using loads of humour, cliche and "I saw that coming but still got a surprise" type moments to get to a obvious but still surprising climax.

Any additional comments?

I bought this book based on my previous purchased of his book "Automatic Detective". Initially I was a bit disappointed that this book had a less noir style, but soon I forgot about that and enjoyed this book for it's own merits. It's not good literature, but it's a good story and a fun listen.

Pushing Ice

2057. Humanity has raised exploiting the solar system to an art form. Bella Lind and the crew of her nuclear-powered ship, the Rockhopper, push ice. They mine comets. And they're good at it. The Rockhopper is nearing the end of its current mission cycle, and everyone is desperate for some much-needed R & R, when startling news arrives from Saturn: Janus, one of Saturn's ice moons, has inexplicably left its natural orbit and is now heading out of the solar system at high speed.

I would probably only recommend this to existing Alistair Reynolds fans, as it is not his best story (in my opinion), and although it introduces some existing ideas it concentrates too much on a rather unbelieveable rivalry between 2 women. The tension between the 2 women is labourer for most of the book and only drives an interesting development in the last 3rd of the novel.

What about John Lee’s performance did you like?

John Lee is always good, and he can make even stilted conversation between blandly drawn characters seem worth a listen

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, but I was glad I persevered. The last 3rd is interesting and much more the Alistair reynolds style that I enjoy.

In the year 1689, a cabal of Barbary galley slaves, including one “Half-Cocked Jack” Shaftoe, devises a daring plan to win freedom and fortune. A great adventure ensues that will place the intrepid band at odds with the mighty and the mad, with alchemists, Jesuits, great navies, pirate queens, and vengeful despots across vast oceans and around the globe.

This is really a pirate adventure with a lot of historical fact, speculation, liberty and down-right fiction thrown in. It's very well written and read. A bit overlong in some of the description and detail, but the reading really makes an excellent job of hiding that.

I would strongly recommend that the listerner begins at the beginning of the Baroque Cycle and sees it through to the end, as most of the plot lines begin before, and finish well after, this book. Although it could be argued that this is a standalone listen I do not believe you would be doing the story any justice be stopping at the end of this book.

The reading and production of this is excellent. The characterisations are broad and consistent, with lots of emotion and humour conveyed.

The Vor Game: A Miles Vorkosigan Novel

Miles Vorkosigan graduates from the Barrayaran Military Academy with high expectations of ship command, but is disappointed with an assignment as meteorologist to Lazkowski Base, an arctic training camp. His tenure in the windy, snow-covered north is cut short when Miles narrowly averts a massacre between the trigger-happy base commander and mutinous recruits. After a brief stay under 'house arrest', Miles is re-assigned to investigate a suspicious military build-up near a wormhole nexus.

This isn't the first Vorkosigan audiobook I've purchased, nor the longest, nor even the best. But this was still an entirely enjoyable experience with plenty to recommend it, even though I was approaching the Vorkosigan saga outside the conventional chronology.

Lois Mcmaster Bujold has created a cast of characters who both antagonise and compliment each other, and the story is rich and at times unpredictable. To me at least. But I don't pretend to have any great insight to the structure of military or even fictional intrigue.

I just enjoyed the way it unfolded and the complex but clear path the story took me on.

The narration was great and I can recommend this to anyone, whether they are a science fiction fan or not.

The Last Cavalier: Being the Adventures of Count Sainte-Hermine in the Age of Napoleon

The story of France from the Renaissance to the 19th century, as Dumas vibrantly retold it in his numerous enormously popular novels, has long been absent one vital, richly historical era: the Age of Napoleon. But no longer. Now dynamically, in a tale of family honor and undying vengeance, of high adventure and heroic derring-do, The Last Cavalier fills that gap.

While this audio book doesn't have the je ne sais quoi of Dumas's well known masterpieces, it is nonetheless a rich story, full of the familiar style and substance that I find absolutely captivating. The story is complex (perhaps a little contrived), but entertaining and easy to get drawn in to. Dumas steps outside Europe here, as his protaganist sails into the Indian Ocean in seach of adventure and reward, then back headlong into Italian intrigue and banditry, all in the name of pennance and honour.

The reading was excellent, well paced with good characterisations and easy to listen to. It's quire long, and as Dumas wasn't able to complete the project himself, it has been finished off faithfully and without any real change in style.

I rate it 4 stars.It doesn't compare with The 3 Musketeers or The Count of Monte Cristo, but it does not embarass them either. Recommended.

The Lost Symbol

Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned to deliver an evening lecture in the U.S. Capitol Building. Within minutes of his arrival, the night takes a bizarre turn. A disturbing object is discovered in the Capitol Building. The object is an ancient invitation, meant to usher its recipient into a long-lost world of hidden esoteric wisdom. And when Langdon's mentor is kidnapped, Langdon's only hope of saving him is to accept this invitation and follow wherever it leads him.

Well, the hype surrounding "the next Da Vinci Code" actually detracted from the experience for me.

I enjoyed this book none the less, as it was pure unadulterated pulp, and pretty self aware. It didn't set out to climb literary mountains, or be worthy or clever. I seemed to be content with just telling a ripping, and totally preposterous story and trying to be entertaining with it.

I was entertained. The story was read very well, and the sound and quality were excellent.

House of Suns

Six million years ago, at the very dawn of the starfaring era, Abigail Gentian fractured herself into a thousand male and female clones: the shatterlings. Sent out into the galaxy, these shatterlings have stood aloof as they document the rise and fall of countless human empires. They meet every 200,000 years to exchange news and memories of their travels with their siblings.

Louise de La Vallière

As part of the d'Artagnan Romances following The Three Musketeers and Twenty Years After, and devoted in large part to romantic events at the court of France's King Louis XIV, Louise de La Valliere is the second part of Alexandre Dumas's 268 chapter novel The Vicomte de Bragelonne: Ten Years Later, which first appeared in serial form between 1847 and 1850.

Large tracts are devoted to the minutiae of French royalty and the surrounding courtiers, where sometimes there is a very long and (impeccably narrated) winding road to reach a climax where one of several gallant knights squeezes one of several ladies-in-waiting hands or some other equally scandalous body part.

I suppose this must have titillated in it's day, but it really doesn't measure up to the excitement of "The 3 Musketeers", "20 Years After" or even "The Man in the Iron Mask", which follows on from this, and is well enough written that you could probably jump from "Le Vicomte de Bragelonne" to "The Man in the Iron Mask" without losing much in the bargain.

Nicholas Nickleby

The most gorgeously theatrical of all Dickens's novels, Nicholas Nickleby follows the delightful adventures of a hearty young hero in 19th-century England. Nicholas, a gentleman's son fallen upon hard times, must set out to make his way in the world. His journey is accompanied by some of the most swaggering scoundrels and unforgettable eccentrics in Dickens's pantheon.

I liked this audio book very much. The narration was excellent, with very consistent characterisations throughout.

The story is a classic, and although, in my opinion, it doesn't have the depth and humour of David Copperfield, it is a very engaging story on many levels.

I don't hesitate recommending this audiobook to anyone who wants to dip their toe into a Dickens novel, and I'd recommend also listening to David Copperfield (Unabridged)at some time after this for a complete Charles Dickens experience

A Civil Campaign: A Miles Vorkosigan Novel

Lord Miles Vorkosigan has a problem that all his new power can't solve: unrequited love for the beautiful Vor widow Ekaterin Vorsoisson. Ekaterin is violently allergic to marriage as a result of her first exposure. But, as Miles learned from his late career in galactic covert ops, if a frontal assault won't do, go to subterfuge.

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